Commercial galleries rarely lean this deeply into art history for validation. This fast stroll through the Southern Renaissance scene of Alabama of the 1980s follows the gallery artist Holley’s Camden Art Centre show and takes part of its outlook from the Royal Academy’s suitably fuller exhibition of 2023.
Unlike the other propositions, this one is not forthcoming with context. The handout waxes about the titular 1833 meteor shower and MLK’s 1986 assassination. How these events gave rise to the unlabelled works is unclear, and one is left looking for traces of Jim Crow on Thornton Dial’s canvases and in the rust of Minter’s yard sculptures alone.
Some patterns emerge, but they are not as advertised. Bizarrely, Bennet’s duotone quilt and Tolliver’s childlike diagrams of vehicles are easier to parse than Lockett’s more emotive paintings of hurt forest animals. The commercial imperative is understandable. The art historical intent, less clear.
